Spoilage of foods due to presence of bacterial and fungal infection has been a major concern for decades and it causes 50% loss worldwide [El-Ghaouth A. Journal of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology 1997; 19: 160]. The demand for non-toxic natural preservatives has been rising with increased awareness and reports of ill effects of synthetic chemicals present in foods. Many compounds present in berries has been reported to be biologically active, antimicrobial, allopathic, antioxidants and having bioregulatory properties such as tissue regeneration activities [Xu Mingyu et al. 1993. A brief report on antibacterial experiment using seabuckthorn. Seabuckthorn 6: 28-29]. Seabuckthorn berries have been reported to posses antibacterial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiallergenic and analgesic activity [Benavente-Garcia O, Castillo J, Martin F R, Ortuno A, Del Rio J A. Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry 1997; 45: 4505]. Seabuckthorn is widely grown plant which belongs to Elaeagnaceae family and genus Hippophae. It has been used in traditional Tibetan and Mangolian medicines (Lu Rongsen, 1992. Seabuckthorn: A multiple plant species for fragile mountains. International center for integrated mountain development, ICIMOD occasional paper No. 20, Kathmandu, Nepal). Seabuckthorn is known as wonder plant that bears small orange yellow to red colored fruits on two year old thorny twigs. The berry like fruit develops from an ovary or calyx tube, connected to ovary. Berries contain many bioactive substances and can be used in the treatment of several diseases like cardiovascular disease, cancer, acute mountain sickness etc. A total of more than 300 different medicine preparations involving seabuckthorn have been reported (Singh, 2001. International workshop on seabuckthorn, during 18-21 Feb. 2001, New Delhi).
Literature survey revealed that, there are no reports on the isolation of antibacterial and antioxidant fraction from the seeds of Seabuckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.).